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8 months ago
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The executive producer of Netflix's Drive to Survive series has revealed how the show will cover the Christian Horner scandal when the new season drops.
Formula One has been rocked by allegations of inappropriate behaviour against the Red Bull supremo made by a female colleague at his team - with the husband of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell since being cleared of misconduct by an independent panel.
However, his future remains under scrutiny after text messages between Horner and what appears to be a female colleague were leaked in 79 screenshots, as an anonymous sender sent an email that also copied in FIA chief Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 boss Stefano Domenicali.
The accuser has been suspended as the saga rages on, and now James Gay-Rees, the boss of Drive to Survive - the show that documents the dramas of the F1 season - has addressed the scandal and revealed how his team plans to treat it.
‘It will have to be referenced in some capacity, yeah,' he told the Telegraph. 'And they will all want it to be told in a particular way, so it’s about treading that line to keep everybody happy, and to keep Netflix happy, and us – so we can sleep at night with the decisions we’ve made.
The boss of Netflix's Drive to Survive series has revealed how the show will cover the Christian Horner scandal this season
The fly-on-the-wall documentary captures all the drama of a typical Formula One season
Horner has been fighting for his reputation and battling claims of inappropriate behaviour by a female member of staff at Red Bull
‘You have to have balance. I think Horner is looking OK for the time being, but it doesn’t feel like it’s done yet. It will all depend on how it plays out.
'I don’t know what he got up to – and I genuinely don’t have an opinion on it, but he’s been through it and you wouldn’t wish that on anybody.’
Gay-Rees also said he had spoken to Horner since the allegations came to light and revealed what the racing boss told him.
‘Yeah, that’s what Christian said to me: “This is all your fault,”’ he added.
Aside from Horner being under the spotlight, Red Bull have still enjoyed a great start to the season after Max Verstappen - who has been a vocal critic of Drive to Survive - won the first two three races, before being forced to retire from the Australian Grand Prix.
Drive to Survive boss James Gay-Rees said Horner joked 'this is all your fault' when they spoke
The Dutchman started from pole but was overtaken by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in the early laps.
Shortly afterwards smoke started to come from the rear of Verstappen's Red Bull, resulting in the Dutchman slowly making his way back to the pits to retire from a race for the first time in two years.
Verstappen appeared to have a tense exchange with a mechanic after climbing out of the smoking vehicle, with the 26-year-old appearing to mouth the word 'stupid'.
But Horner came to Verstappen's defence, saying the whole team needed to 'learn and move on' from the incident.
Max Verstappen has managed to stay focused on his job amid the allegations but was forced to retire from the Australian Grand Prix
'Obviously, a driver is going to be frustrated when he gets out of a car from a retirement,' Horner said.
'I think he's been very gracious with the team and all of the mechanics, we are all one team. That DNF hurts everybody in the same way. It's a matter of learning from it.
'We've had two years with no mechanical DNFs which has been remarkable.
'It's a matter of understanding what caused it and learning from it and moving on.
'It's remarkable after three races that he's still leading the world championship even with that DNF but, as I say, a lot of lessons to take from today.'
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